Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
"Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, "This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the desert.' " Pharaoh said, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go." Then they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us take a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, or he may strike us with plagues or with the sword." But the king of Egypt said, "Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their labor? Get back to your work!" Then Pharaoh said, "Look, the people of the land are now numerous, and you are stopping them from working." Exodus 5:1-5
"Then the Lord said to Moses, "Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh as he goes to the water and say to him, 'This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. If you do not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies on you and your officials, on your people and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies, and even the ground where they are. " 'But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people live; no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I, the Lord, am in this land. I will make a distinction between my people and your people. This miraculous sign will occur tomorrow.' " And the Lord did this. Dense swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh's palace and into the houses of his officials, and throughout Egypt the land was ruined by the flies. Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Go, sacrifice to your God here in the land." But Moses said, "That would not be right. The sacrifices we offer the Lord our God would be detestable to the Egyptians. And if we offer sacrifices that are detestable in their eyes, will they not stone us? We must take a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, as he commands us." Pharaoh said, "I will let you go to offer sacrifices to the Lord your God in the desert, but you must not go very far. Now pray for me." Moses answered, "As soon as I leave you, I will pray to the Lord, and tomorrow the flies will leave Pharaoh and his officials and his people. Only be sure that Pharaoh does not act deceitfully again by not letting the people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord." Then Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord, and the Lord did what Moses asked: The flies left Pharaoh and his officials and his people; not a fly remained. But this time also Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go." Exodus 8:20-32
After the onslaught of gnats, Pharoah still refused to give into God. So God refused to let up on His pressure on Pharoah and the Egyptian people. This time, He once again sends Moses to confront Pharoah and to give him the following message:
"This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. If you do not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies on you and your officials, on your people and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies, and even the ground where they are. But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people live; no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I, the Lord, am in this land. I will make a distinction between my people and your people. This miraculous sign will occur tomorrow."
Well, as expected, Pharoah refused to let Israel go and so the Lord sent "dense swarms of flies…into Pharaoh's palace and into the houses of his officials, and throughout Egypt the land was ruined by the flies." Can you imagine a plague of flies? I mean, one or two can be pesky and drive a person crazy but swarms and swarms of them had to create a situation that was unbearable. You know flies like to land on things…like people and food…and some flies are of the biting variety. Just as the gnats had gnawed at the spirit of Egypt, so now did the flies. And it did something that we hadn’t seen up to now. Pharoah decided to allow the Israelites to carry out their sacrifices without expecting anything in return.
But we see that Pharoah isn’t ready to concede completely. The request from the Lord through Moses was for the people to be allowed to journey three days into the desert to offer sacrifices to God. Not allowing them to do so would lead to possibly being struck by plagues and this had become a reality for Egypt. But Pharoah still wanted his own way. He tells Moses and Aaron that they can go and "sacrifice to your God here in the land." Moses argues against Pharoah’s idea saying, "That would not be right. The sacrifices we offer the Lord our God would be detestable to the Egyptians. And if we offer sacrifices that are detestable in their eyes, will they not stone us?"
Whether he knew he was doing it or not, Pharoah’s proposal would have placed the Israelites in grave danger for they would be sacrificing the very animals that the Egyptians worshipped. As soon as the Egyptians saw them killing these sacred animals, they would carry out the death penalty on the Israelite people. And so this is why Moses insists that "we must take a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, as he commands us." Just as Moses had told Pharoah in Chapter 5 of Exodus, so again he tells him. Moses is unwilling to sacrifice the desires of God in order to appease the mighty ruler Pharoah.
Well, we could almost script how this encounter will end without reading the scriptures. Pharoah agrees to let Moses and the Israelites go into the desert for their festival and sacrifices to God and then wants Moses to pray for him…hoping once again that he might get rid of the current plague through the intercessory prayers of Moses. And again, the prayers worked as the flies disappeared. And, as we have seen before, Pharoah goes back on his word and does not allow the Israelites to go to the desert to conduct their festival of sacrifice unto God.
There are several matters that stand out in this passage that have broad application to our daily Christian walk:
First, God sets apart and protects His people in accordance with His will. We see as the plague of flies rained down on Egypt that the people of Israel are not afflicted likewise. This is because the place where they lived, Goshen, was not affected by the swarms. Surely Pharoah took notice of this and we should as well. Always keep in mind that we serve a Lord who loves us and watches over us…in good times and in bad.
Second, never underestimate the power of intercessory prayer. For the second time now, we see how Moses is able to pray to God on behalf of Pharoah and the Egyptians, petitioning for mercy and helping elicit an end to a time of great difficulty, first from the frogs and now from the flies. As we lift up the needs of others, God does listen and He does answer in accordance with His will.
Finally, we see that we are expected to stand firm on God’s commands. Moses was commanded to lead the Israelites on a three day journey into the desert to hold a festival with sacrifices offered before God. Pharoah countered that proposal with one that would have had the Israelites conduct their sacrifices in Egypt. This offer was not just unacceptable because it created a potentially dangerous conflict between the Egyptian and Israelite peoples. It was simply unacceptable because it wasn’t what God wanted done.
Question: How often do we face circumstances where someone tries to get us to compromise our Christian values? How often are we tempted to go along with the ways of the world, turning away from the commandments of the Lord?
The truth is that we are under constant attack. Satan wants to do nothing more than get us to compromise ourselves and invalidate everything we do in the name of the Lord. As Christians, we are always under the microscope as others watch to see what we do, what we say and how we think. Giving into the world really shows that there isn’t anything that separates us from it. In other words, one might wonder, "What makes a Christian any different than anyone else?" And thus, one might also wonder, "Why should I be interested in this Christianity thing?"
We simply can’t allow ourselves to waver from God’s word and will in our lives. We can’t afford to live any differently than Jesus Himself lived. For at the root of the word "Christian" is the word "Christ". How are you doing in showing others that you seek to live like Him without compromise? As we get set to enter a new year, may we commit ourselves to be an uncompromising people when it comes to living just as Jesus did. There couldn’t be a better resolution to make.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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